De Novo Pharmaceuticals collaborates with Genzyme
Under a new collaboration agreement, De Novo Pharmaceuticals, a computationally-based drug discovery company focused on small molecule therapeutics, will apply its novel molecular structure generating technology to a disease target of interest to Genzyme.
Under a new collaboration agreement, De Novo Pharmaceuticals, a computationally-based drug discovery company focused on small molecule therapeutics, will apply its novel molecular structure generating technology to a disease target of interest to Genzyme.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Philip Dean, cso at Cambridge-based De Novo, said 'Using SkelGen, we will be designing for Genzyme new chemical classes of inhibitors to an important biological target implicated in multiple diseases.'
De Novo's SkelGen is a suite of structure generating programs, evaluated and co-developed by Roche. 'The core algorithm generates new molecular structures by the random assembly of small molecular fragments in situ. Ninety-percent of the structures produced by SkelGen are novel and chemically tractable. This represents a significant advancement in the field of De Novo design and potential paradigm shift for drug discovery,' said Dean.
'This collaboration will enhance Genzyme's ability to discover cutting-edge therapeutics using a structure-based design approach,' said Thomas Jozefiak, senior scientific director, chemical research at Genzyme.